More than a decade ago I was in your shoes. Trying to figure out what I needed, wanted and could afford. I had lived on a smaller place back in the 80's (50 acres) and had bought a used Yanmar 25 hp, 4 wd with a front end loader and shredder. The machine ran great but it could not do squat to help clear cedar in the Texas Hill Country. Fast forward. We moved to the big city in the 90's got rid of the tractor, but eventually bought a large ranch on the west side of the Texas Hill Country about 12 years ago. Surprisingly very little cedar on this new ranch (to us) but loaded with mesquite.
Asked around about what to do. People were (and still are) using dozers to clear and rake. Some suggested that more were going to skid steers/Bobcats. In our neck of the woods, if you use a dozer on our thin soil you may clear the brush with a dozer but you also tear up the soil and bring a ton of rock to the surface. So I started off with a new Bobcat S650. It works fantastic for what I intended. I have a shear, a grapple, bucket, pallet forks, auger with a rock bit and a hay spear that I have added over the years. Extremely versatile for what we need. Cleared and stacked about 300 acres of mesquite and other brush over a 2 1/2 year period working random weekends. Now working on another 150 acre piece.
But I needed a tractor as well for other stuff (shredding, road maintenance, disking, etc.). Bought a an old 50 HP JD 2240 (1980 vintage) 2 wd for that stuff. Out here the only dealers within about 100 miles are JD and Kubota (the Bobcat guys carried Kioti for awhile until they split the sheets). Anyway things went well for a time, but it got to the point with the old JD (it had over 4000 hours on it) that I was spending more time fixing it than working with it (I still have it parked in the barn). The boss agreed that I could get a newer, lightly used 'new' tractor. I got a 2018 JD 5075e (75 hp) in 2019 with 139 hours on it. 4 wd, FEL and open cab with a sunscreen. My Bobcat has a cab with AC/Heat (I am worried about hitting a bee/wasp nest clearing land here) the tractor is used in more 'civilized' portions of the ranch (less chance of chasing up bees, etc.) and I can pick and choose time of day more easily to reduce the need for an AC cab. Plus a cab in a JD is expensive.
Anyway, my point is that even though the JD is 75 hp and plenty heavy it is not near as versatile as the 72 hp Bobcat regarding brush and tree removal. I take out mesquite with trunks as large as 30" diameter (although the majority are in the 6-10" range, but often multiple trunks). I cut them at the base and immediately spray the trunk with my built in sprayer. If I had tried to dig them out with any equipment to get the bud zone of the roots out of the ground the trailing roots would just be tearing up soil for a 20 foot radius. I am not trying to create a space to grow crops; I am trying to get more grass for livestock.
Overall I find a skid steer much more useful for all around work around the ranch. There are things that a tractor is better suited for IMO such as shredding, box blade work on roads, plowing, disking, etc. but for everyday use in moving feed, using it as a forklift, digging, grappling up brush and trash as well as cutting trees, the skid steer is much more practical, maneuverable, etc.
My Bobcat is a wheeled version with foam filled tires (too many things here to puncture tires). The foam tires makes for a rough ride. When I bought it new in 2011 track skid steers were still not very common. If I had to do it today I would get a tracked version for the better traction and smoother ride. The tracked versions are a bit more expensive but I think they are worth it.
Just like anything there are often multiple tools to do a job, some are better at certain tasks than others. I like all of my tools but as my ranch boss says 'the Bobcat is more like a Swiss Army Knife, it can do all kinds of stuff'. You are in East Texas in the Piney Woods so the situation is a bit different but to some extent clearing brush is clearing brush. A lot depends on your objective. Are you clear cutting or trying to be selective? If the latter, you need maneuverability.
Finally, and it has been addressed numerous times, you need to have good dealer support. I'm 50+ miles from the nearest JD and Kubota dealers and 75-80 miles to the nearest Bobcat dealer. It's a pain to haul equipment in for repairs and servicing. But it needs to be done. I am assuming that whatever you do you have (or have access to) a suitable trailer and truck to haul this stuff. As many have commented, dealer access (assuming they are good) is a huge plus. The newer brands popping up may be enticing but notice the comment above about Kioti parting ways with Bobcat a few years ago. You may find yourself traveling quite a bit further for service and parts if situations change. And I assure you that you will tear things up and need repair.....
